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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Drug tunnel found extending from San Diego to Mexico, more than 20 tons of marijuana seized

Tons of marijuana was sezied earlier this week after feds found the drug tunnel

More than 20 tons of marijuana have been seized after the feds discovered a sophisticated, drug-smuggling tunnel measuring more than seven football fields in length between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.

Authorities said the tunnel, found Thursday, was similar to one discovered earlier this month. Both were equipped with lighting,ventilation and a railcar-system to carry the drugs.

The most recently found tunnel extended from a kitchen in Mexico to two warehouses in the Otay Mesa industrial complex in San Diego.

Three men were arrested in the U.S. and five were taken into custody in Mexico in connection with the bust.

Authorities said the tunnel was discovered after investigators became suspicious about a tractor trailer parked near a warehouse in the industrial complex. They then followed the trailer, stopped it and found more than 12 tons of pot inside.

"That (trailer) was literally filled top to bottom, front to back," Mike Unzueta, head of investigations at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego said. "There wasn't any room for anything else in that tractor-trailer but air.”

Three tons of marijuana were found in a "subterranean room" in the tunnel on the U.S. side and four tons were seized at a ranch in northern Mexico.

Feds seized an additional 30 tons of marijuana on Nov. 4 after finding another tunnel that ended in the same industrial area in San Diego.

The tunnels are suspected to be the work of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, which is headed by the country's most-wanted rug lord, "El Chapo" Guzman.

"We think ultimately they are controlled by the same overall cartel but that the tunnels were being managed and run independently by different cells operating within the same organization," Unzueta said.